We received a very generous donation of yarn from a local yarn store, and we have a ton of yarn to wind! So I was thinking about getting a yarn winder. We can't afford an electric one so I'm just wondering what are some good manual winders that aren't too costly? Approximately how long does it take to wind a whole skein?

I have the Knit Picks winder, I like it, it's faster than winding by hand. I can't say how long it takes. I know it makes frogging easier if I'm starting with the end of the yarn I can just wind and frog at the same time.

__________________~ GG
Happiness is catching that dropped stitch while it's still fixable..

I was watching a video about how to knit socks, and the woman in the video used a similar yarn winder as the one from KnitPicks. She blasted through half a big skein of yarn in about a minute, so I would think that this would make your life much easier--even with lots and lots of yarn.

If you get one, please do give us an update. I've been wanting to know how these work for others ever since I saw that video.

The only hand cranked model I've ever used was ... not good. I wish I I could remember who built so I could tell you to avoid it. It was almost faster to do it by hand, except for the time we had to wind nearly a mile of sock yarn. And even then it took both of us to operate the froggin' thing. It was bad. Bad, bad, bad, twenty bad.

Depending on how generous the LYS is, they might wind it for you. I know the stores I go to here will wind any yarn you buy from them free of charge (I prefer to wind my own, machine wound balls always have The Wad when you start them).

Failing that, you could always have a Wind-a-Thon with the local scout troop or something. (They're always looking for service projects, right?) Might cost you a couple of dozen pizzas or something, but I bet it'd get done quick. Many hands make light the work as they say. Now how well the balls would be wound is another story...

I have the one from KnitPicks and I like it. I hold it in my hand instead of mounting it (no good place to mount) and you have to be careful of the handle coming loose while you're cranking away. It's the kind of handle that has two notches and you put them in and turn to attach it, so if you're holding and cranking you could inadvertently twist it out. Other than that it works fast. I don't blast through it and it is still only a few minutes.

I have the one from KnitPicks and I like it. I hold it in my hand instead of mounting it (no good place to mount) and you have to be careful of the handle coming loose while you're cranking away. It's the kind of handle that has two notches and you put them in and turn to attach it, so if you're holding and cranking you could inadvertently twist it out. Other than that it works fast. I don't blast through it and it is still only a few minutes.

I forgot that the handle likes to come loose. I put my thumb on the platform part above it and that keeps it together.

__________________~ GG
Happiness is catching that dropped stitch while it's still fixable..

I'm sure I used a 40% off coupon on it or bought it on sale and used a free shipping coupon. I can't remember exactly and I don't have the receipt anymore.

I really like it and it works really well. The kids thinks it's some sort of toy that I'm selfishly keeping away from them -- if I have more than one ball to wind, I'll set it up in the living room so that they can take turns.

I like that it attaches to a table; I use both hands, one to keep the yarn from tangling and one to wind. It does wind better when I'm *not* holding the yarn, but DH has not finished my yarn swift so I'm having to manually make sure the yarn doesn't tangle itself.

I'm not sure how long it takes, but it is very quick! I tend to do it when I have several balls to wind because otherwise it takes longer for me to take it out of the box and set it up than it does to do the winding!